attempting to put down roots

Tower of London

yesterday was a lovely sunny, albeit cold, day. so i decided i would go to the Tower of London. i last went about 20yrs ago or more!. there was one tower i wanted to see the most, as well as the Crown Jewels and a general nosey around.

i had wanted to go to the Beauchamp Tower the most to see the 500 yr old graffiti. i find it fascinating that there is an 800 yr old tower with 500 yr graffiti in it. NZ isn’t offically 200yrs old yet.

my trip seemed to coincide with every classroom in England having a field trip to the Tower!. it was madness and more than a little annoying if i’m honest – not a brilliant comment from someone who works in the childcare field!!.

despite all that, i enjoyed my time. i was there about 3-4hours slowly strolling round. i saw the Crown Jewels which are incredible, the thickness of the walls of the White Tower are amazing. this tower was begun in 1080.

heres a few photos of the trip…..

Queen Victoria asked that the spot where previous Queens had been beheaded be commemorated. this is what’s currently there to mark the site. when i went 20 odd yrs ago it was a small wooden box/plaque.

the Beauchamp Tower

the first floor room with most of the graffiti

66 is Thomas Abell, Chaplain to Catherine of Aragon

below is by the Dudley Brothers, who had links to Elizabeth 1st.

below is by Saint Philip Howard, who also had links with Elizabeth the 1st.

below, this was in another tower by Hew Draper in May 1561 and it relates to the zodiac.

commemorating the location of the bones of the Princes in the Tower were found under a stairwell in the White Tower.

a fine young man in the White Tower!.

on the way back to the bus, i went and had a look at the Monument to the Great Fire of London – here’s a photo of the detail on the base of it.

This was wonderful! Living in the US, it also amazes me to see something so old, our history here just isn’t that old either. I like the graffiti that looks almost like cursive, that had to take awhile. Thanks for sharing this at the We Call It Olde Link-Up, hope you join us again. -Dawn @ We Call It Junkin.com